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Helsinki is the capital of Finland and is beautifully located with water to three sides and with an archipelago just outside the city center. The natural beauty is complemented by 19th-century Helsinki and modern Finnish architecture, and these things are part of what gives loads of interesting things to see and do while visiting the city.
The city’s two most famous churches are top sights; the Classicist Protestant Cathedral and the Russian Orthodox Uspensky Cathedral. The churches both date from Finland during the era of the Russian Empire, and the well planned 19th century town is located with the protestant cathedral as center point.
The short distances between the sights of the city center allow for nice walks among buildings from the 18th century to the present day. Churches, museums, recreation areas and modern designs are some of the things that you can see in the streets; all in a nice mix with the surrounding beauty in nature.
The name of the capital is Helsinki or Helsingfors, beacause the city and country are bilingual Finnish and Swedish. Across languages, everyone enjoys the city and the surrounding area with everything from beaches along the Gulf of Finland to the vast lake landscapes to the north and fine coastal towns and historical sights such as the sea fortress of Sveaborg to the south.
The neoclassical cathedral in Helsinki rises above the surrounding buildings and is therefore a dominant element in the capital’s skyline. The church with the green domes is also one of the best-known landmarks in the city.
The cathedral today bears the name Protestant cathedral, but in the years 1830-1852 it was built as Saint Nicholas Church. It was named after the Russian Czar and Grand Duke of Finland, Nicholas I, and it kept the original name until 1917.
It was the architect Carl Ludvig Engel who designed the church in neoclassicism with typical pillared portals in the ground plane, and high above this sits the elegant dome, which reaches a height of 62 metres. Inside the Cathedral you can experience a fine church space that is light and airy. The altar piece was donated by Tsar Nicholas I and produced by Carl Timoleon von Neff.
The model for the church is clearly Isaac’s Cathedral in the nearby Russian metropolis of Saint Petersburg. In order to achieve greater similarity with the Russian cathedral, Ernst Lohmann added four small domes, which was done after the work of Carl Ludvig Engel.
Carl Ludvig Engel also designed several of the other buildings on Senattorvet, and with the cathedral he completed the elegant ensemble that characterizes this part of the Finnish capital.
Before the current cathedral, there was also a church on this site. The first church here was the Swedish Ulrika Eleonora Kyrka, which was the residence of Queen Ulrika Eleonora. A temporary wooden church was built nearby, and it served as the parish church from the demolition of the Swedish church until the dedication of the new Saint Nicholas Church.
In 1809, Finland became part of the Russian Empire, and on that occasion Helsinki became the Finnish capital. Therefore, a need arose to construct new administration buildings for the institutions that were established in connection with the city’s new status. On that occasion, Senate Square was laid out and built in a style that was strongly inspired by the nearby capital, Saint Petersburg.
In the center of the square stands a statue of Tsar Alexander II of Russia. It was erected in 1894 as a tribute to the Tsar for his re-establishment of a Finnish National Assembly in 1863 and other measures that increased Finnish autonomy.
In addition to the statue, Senattorvet is surrounded by a string of Helsinki’s most famous buildings, with the elegant cathedral as the center of a larger classicist building ensemble. It was planned as a central splendor in the quarter, which had perished in a fire in 1808.
Uspensky Cathedral is Helsinki’s Russian Orthodox cathedral. The beautiful building was built in Russian-Byzantine style in the period 1862-1868 after inspiration from a 16th-century church near Moscow. The architect on the task was the Russian Alexei Gornostaev, and the church was also built in Finland’s time during the Russian Empire.
The Uspensky Cathedral has 13 gilded onion domes, which symbolize Jesus and his 12 disciples. It was decorated in traditional Russian style with beautiful rich ornamentation and a fine iconostasis. The church building is one of the largest Russian Orthodox churches outside Russia and Russian-dominated countries.
The Uspensky Cathedral stands majestically on a ridge on the Katajanokka peninsula. Together with the city’s cathedral on Senattorvet, it makes a significant contribution to Helsinki’s skyline.
This is the Finnish National Museum’s main building, which was built 1905-1910 according to the designs of architects Gesellius, Lindgren and Saarinen. The exterior style was built in the National Romantic style and inspired by Finnish churches and castles from the Middle Ages. The interior of the museum was decorated in Art Nouveau style.
The museum’s exhibitions show the history of Finland from prehistoric times to the present day. The frescoes in the central hall show parts of the country’s history, and you can choose from many periods and subjects in the museum’s colossal collection, whose effects are divided into many different themes.
The Temple Square Church in Helsinki is one of the city’s major and quite different attractions. The unique church was blasted out of Helsinki’s bedrock in the years 1968-1969 by the architect brothers Timo and Tuomo Suomalainen.
The walls of the church are therefore made up of the pure rock walls, and the natural light in the church comes from the 180 windows that sit between the walls and the large dome. The church has fantastic acoustics, and is therefore also used for concerts.
If you are near the church, you can take a stroll on the rock around the church. If you walk a short distance from the church’s entrance, there are paths that lead up to the rock section, which gives a good look at the Temple Square Church from a new angle.
Suomenlinna is one of the world’s largest maritime fortifications and one of Helsinki’s many exciting sights. It is located on six of the outermost islands outside Helsinki, to which both ferries and tour boats from Kauppatori/Salutorvet sail today. The fort has been on UNESCO’s list of world cultural heritage since 1991, and many experiences await a visit.
Sweden had lost all its eastern fortresses to Russia in the Great Nordic War at the beginning of the 18th century, and therefore Sveaborg had to be built to defend the new border and of course Helsinki in particular. Construction began under the direction of Augustin Ehrensvärd in 1748, and the facility was completed in the original design in 1772.
Although the sea fort was difficult to take, the Finns had to surrender to the Russians in 1808, and at the conclusion of the peace treaty in Hamina the following year, Finland and thus Suomen became part of the Russian Empire. The Russians quickly expanded Sveaborg with barracks, a hospital and a church, and the large garrison of up to 13,000 men was instrumental in Helsinki becoming the country’s capital in 1812.
In 1855, the fort was subjected to Anglo-French bombardments in connection with the Crimean War, in which Russia fought victoriously against Turkey. The expansion of Sveaborg continued, and before the outbreak of the First World War the sea fort was expanded to be able to serve as a defense of the tsar’s capital; the nearby Saint Petersburg.
After Finnish independence, the sea fort was called Suomenlinna, which means Finland’s Fort, and was used as a prison in the early years. Approximately 8,500 prisoners from the Finnish Civil War were held here.
After the end of World War I, Suomenlinna became a Finnish military unit in 1919, which was active until 1973. During World War II, the fort was subjected to occasional bombardments, but its military role was already here being played out. Tourists came to the area after the war, and in 1952 Olympic sailing was held here. Today, there are several museums here that, among other things, depict the history of the fort.
If you take the ferry to Sveaborg, you come to the island of Iso Mustasaari/Stora Östersvartö, and from here there are highlights worth seeing like pearls on a string; only some of the most important are mentioned here. A good and relatively long stroll goes across Stora Östersvartö and on to the island of Susisaari/Vargön. In addition to these islands, you can also go northwest from the ferry to the smaller islands of Pikku-Musta/Lilla Östersvartö and Länsi-Musta/Västersvartö.
In 1807, Finland became part of the Russian Empire, and to govern the country, a government chancellery was established two years later, which from 1816 became the Imperial Senate. The Senate building on the east side of Senattorvet was built to house the body, and the building was inaugurated in 1822.
The Senate acted as both government and court, which in today’s political landscape would constitute a combined Ministry of Finance and Justice. With Finland’s independence in 1917, the economic part was changed to a government council, while the rest was established as the country’s supreme court.
It was the German architect Carl Ludvig Engel who designed the neoclassical building, which was built 1818-1822. Engel’s task was partly the concrete building and partly to erect a stately center for the Finnish seat of administration under the new Russian rule.
On the west side of Senattorvet is the main building of the University of Helsinki, which was previously known by other names in history. Hot. The university building was completed in 1832 and, like the other neoclassical buildings on the square, was designed by Carl Ludvig Engel, who overall designed the new Finnish center around Senattorvet.
The educational traditions in the Finnish area stretch back to the 13th century, where Turku Cathedral School is believed to have been founded in 1276. The school trained boys for church work. When Queen Christina of Sweden founded Åbo’s Royal Academy in 1640, it was the third university in the Swedish Empire. The first two were the University of Uppsala and the Academia Gustaviana in Dorpat, now called Tartu in Estonia.
The Imperial Alexander University was established in Helsinki in 1828 as a replacement for the academy in Turku, which was not least due to destruction following a large fire in Turku the year before. Alexander University became an important place for the ideas of an independent Finland, and many leading personalities of 19th century Finland were educated there.
The first railway station in Helsinki was built in 1860, when the railway to Hämeenlinna was opened. Over the course of a few decades, the station became too small, and in 1904 a competition was announced for the construction of a new and much larger railway station. From 21 submitted proposals, Eliel Saarinen’s was chosen, and the new railway station was able to open in 1916.
The building is widely praised for its architectural features. The exterior of the station is pure national romanticism, inspired by both the Germanic architectural style and the monumental buildings from the Egypt of the pharaohs. The most striking parts are the bell tower and the large figures that stand on either side of the main entrance. The beautiful exteriors are matched by some impressive halls with fine architectural lines.
This mansion was built by the merchant Johan Henrik Heidenstrauch as a residence according to a design by Pehr Granstedt in the years 1816-1820. In 1837, the mansion was bought to be the residence of the Governor-General of Finland, but Tsar Nicholas I decided that the building should instead be the Tsar’s official residence in Helsinki, which was then part of the Russian Empire.
On that occasion, Carl Ludvig Engel and his son Carl Alexander Engel rebuilt the building in the years to 1845 to its current appearance, which was designed in a neoclassical style. Thereby the house came to be design-wise integrated into Engel’s newly created neoclassical center of Helsinki.
Nicholas I did not get to use the mansion himself, but it was continuously used by various members of the tsar’s family. Alexander II opened the Finnish Land Day in 1863 in the palace, and on that occasion a throne room was set up, and until 1906 it was the setting for the annual openings and closings of the Land Day. Nicholas II visited the house for a single day in 1915, and it was the last use of the beautiful mansion by the Tsar family.
For a few years during World War I, the building was used as a military hospital, but after Finland’s independence in 1921 it became the seat of the Finnish president, who now only uses it for representative purposes and lives elsewhere.
The city museum in Helsinki has several branches around the Finnish capital. This is the main building, and here you can see a nice review of Helsinki’s history. There are also quite a few different effects, which include household goods from the 1700s and 1900s.
Helsinki City Museum is housed in Sederholm House, which is the oldest preserved house in the city. It was built in 1756-1757 by the merchant Johan Sederholm, after whom it is named. Before then, the merchant Johan Julius Sund had built a wooden house in 1720 on his newly acquired piece of land, but this was demolished to make room for Sederholms Hus.
The museum building was owned by various merchant families until the 19th century, when it lived through being both a tobacco factory and a girls’ school. The museum was opened in 1995.
This is Helsinki’s city hall, which was built in 1833 as a hotel with the name Hotel Seurahuone/Hotell Societetshuset. The large hotel had a ballroom, banquet room and only 27 actual hotel rooms, which is why it was used in many contexts. For example, the first Finnish opera was performed here in 1852, and the Lumière brothers had the country’s first film showing on the site in 1896.
Carl Ludvig Engel, who designed the neoclassical building, which stylistically stands out as one of many contemporaries from his hand; Engel designed large parts of the center that arose after Finland’s integration into the Russian Empire at the beginning of the 1800s.
The city government bought the hotel in 1901, but the operation continued until 1913, when the interior as a town hall began. In 1965-1970, a major renovation was carried out, and now only the exterior of the building and the banquet room are original. The Helsinki City Council has its meeting hall in the beautiful building, and the city’s mayor’s office is also located here.
The Old Market Hall in Helsinki is one of three older market halls in the Finnish capital. It was built in 1889 according to drawings by the architect Gustaf Nyström. Today, it is still set up as a market hall with a lot of stalls and small eateries.
If you want to see another of the city’s old market halls, you can visit Hietalahden kauppahalli/Sandvikens Saluhall. The hall was already planned to be built in 1889, but the city’s economy at the time meant that construction was postponed, and Sandvikens Saluhall only opened in 1903. Today, gastronomy is at the fore in Sandvikens Saluhall, and the activities are supplemented by regular markets in the square in front of the hall.
Jätkäsaari is the name of the peninsula that, until 2008, was Helsinki’s then container port. The industrial port has today moved to Vuosaari, while the ferries to Estonian Tallinn continue to sail from the port of Länsisatarna in Jätkäsaari.
Since 2009, the area has been urban developed towards what, according to the city plans, will become a densely built-up urban area with homes, offices, recreational areas and so on. Thus, Jätkäsaari is an interesting place to experience modern architecture and urban planning.
A special attraction is the artwork Bad Bad Boy (Tyynenmerenkatu), which depicts a boy urinating. The work of the eight-metre-tall boy was created by Tommi Toija and can be seen today at the Bunkkeri/Bunkern tram stop.
The Mannerheim Museum is a museum dedicated to the Finnish statesman and military man Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, who lived right here in the beautiful mansion building in the years 1924-1951. The museum depicts Mannerheim’s history and thereby also a part of Finland’s recent history.
Mannerheim is one of Finland’s most important statesmen of all time. He came from a Finnish-Swedish noble family, had a military education in Saint Petersburg, served 30 years in the Russian army, led Finland through the civil war in 1918, was commander-in-chief during World War II and finally the country’s president in 1944-1946.
The Old Church is one of the oldest preserved churches in Helsinki. It was designed by Carl Ludvig Engel and inaugurated in 1826. The church was originally built as a temporary building, as the Ulrika Eleonora Church on Senatstorvet had been demolished to make room for the new Saint Nicholas Church.
With an intended role as a temporary church building, Gamla Kyrkan was built in wood, and no bells were installed in it. After the completion of Saint Nicholas Church, however, it was decided to preserve the wooden church, which is still standing. Part of the interior from the Ulrika Eleonora Church was once moved here, and you can still see, for example, the pulpit of the demolished church.
The altarpiece in Gamla Kyrkan was also intended for the city’s current cathedral, but Tsar Nicholas I did not think it was suitable for the church, and therefore he donated the one that was used instead.
Gamla Kyrkan is located in Gamla Kyrkoparken/Vanha Kirkkopuisto, which is also called Pestparken/ Ruttopuisto. This is because the site is a former cemetery where, among other things, victims of the ravages of the plague in 1710 were buried.
Kiasma is the name of the Finnish State Museum of Contemporary Art. The focus of the museum’s collection and exhibitions is international art from 1960 to the present day, and you can also experience the architecturally exciting museum building, which was built 1996-1998 according to the drawings of the American Steven Holl.
The museum is also located on the square Mannerheiminaukio, which is named after the military and statesman Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim. On the square in front of Kiasma you can see an equestrian statue from 1960 by Mannerheim.
Esplanade is a central park and a lovely breather in the middle of Helsinki. It is laid out as a wide boulevard between, among other things, the neoclassical buildings which replaced the former old wooden houses in the area.
In the center of the park you can see a statue of the Finnish national poet Johan Ludwig Runeberg. Around it and in the axis of the street Esplanade there are fine green spaces with flowers and trees, and there are often various activities in the area. In the summer season, the Esplanade is today a place where there is always a nice atmosphere and many Finns and tourists who enjoy the weather and the surroundings.
The park Esplanade was designed by Carl Ludvig Engel and opened in 1818 as part of Helsinki’s new urban plan, which was to establish Finland’s capital in a grand new perspective inspired by Saint Petersburg.
The Parliament of Finland was established in 1906 during the country’s time as an autonomous Grand Duchy under the Russian Empire with the Russian Czar as supreme authority.
Finland declared independence in 1917, which was accepted by the Soviet leader Lenin, and with the independence an actual parliament building had to be built in the Finnish capital.
An architectural competition was held for the purpose in 1924, and after the competition and five years of construction, the Rigsdagshuset could be inaugurated in 1931. The chosen building style was classicism with some inspiration from the modernism of the time, where the most striking detail is the monumental columns on the facade.
Inside, the building’s architect, who was Johan Sigfrid Sirén, designed, among other things, furniture and lighting, which varies from floor to floor. Thus, the Rigsdagshuset is a complex that must be seen as an architectural whole.
In 1961, the famous architect Alvar Aalto presented a city plan for the development of the Finnish capital around the Tölövigen wetland. The plan included several cultural buildings along the cove’s western shore, but only the Finlandia House was built.
Alvar Aalto designed and built the Finlandia House in the years 1967-1971 as a concert building, and then a congress wing was added 1973-1975. Alvar Aalto’s masterpiece was built with Italian Carrara marble on the facade; he thought it would bring Mediterranean architecture to Finland.
The Sibelius Monument is a work of art named after the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. It stands in the Sibelius Park, which was given this name on the composer’s 80th birthday in 1945.
The monument was created by the sculptor Eila Hiltunen, and it was inaugurated in 1967. It consists of more than 600 steel pipes, which were joined together like waves. The intention of the design was to recreate the atmosphere of Sibelius’ music.
Porvoo is a well-preserved medieval town whose habitation started in the 13th century. The city was granted market town rights early on, and today the city is best known for its old town with its preserved wooden houses, but there are also other attractions here.
The town’s Swedish name Borgå derives from the early castle that was built here in its time. Otherwise, the city’s position by the river and the sea helped create a strong development that temporarily made it Finland’s second largest city. In 1740 it had 1,600 inhabitants.
After 1809, Borgå became Russian, and the Tsar wanted to modernize the city with an expansion plan like in Saint Petersburg with wide boulevards and open squares. They refrained from demolishing the old city, and instead built the city’s new district, which was inspired by imperial Russian urban planning.
An example of the Russian style is the Finnish national writer Johan Ludvig Runeberg’s home (Aleksanterinkatu 3), which is now set up as a museum. Next door (Aleksanterinkatu 5) is the museum of Runeberg’s son, Walter Runeberg, who was an internationally recognized sculptor.
In addition to taking a walk through the old, cobbled Borgå with its wooden houses and the newer Russian quarter, you can visit the city’s historical museum (Vanha Raatihuoneentori). It is set up in the old town hall from 1764, and it depicts the history of the town and the region. Among tourists’ favorite places is also the area with the old warehouse buildings along the river Porvoonjoki/Borgå. There is a museum in one of them (Jokikatu 14).
At this open-air museum you can see a very fine collection of houses and buildings that originally stood in many different places in Finland. Over the years, the houses have been moved here so that they could be preserved. In total, there are more than 100 constructions here, mainly spanning the period from the 17th century to the present day.
A visit is an exciting insight into historical Finland, and the museum’s guides wear Finnish national costumes, which gives an extra experience and insight into Finnish traditions.
The town of Järvenpää is famous for having been the hometown of the great Finnish composer Jean Sibelius for many years. He built his villa Ainola (Ainolankatu) here in 1904, and he lived here until his death in 1957. Ainola is now set up as a museum for Sibelius. The house has been kept in its original interior, so it looks as it did when Jean Sibelius composed many of the works he was behind. Jean and Aino Sibelius are buried in Ainola’s garden.
Järvenpää has also been home to other artists, and in the city you will also find homes and museums for some of them. This applies, among others, to the composer Joonas Kokkonen (Tuulimyllyntie 5).
North of Helsinki lies Hämeenlinna in the southern part of Finland’s large lake area. In the area around the city you can really enjoy nature, and in Hämeenlinnna there are several attractions.
Hämeenlinna’s beautiful castle (Kustaa III:n katu 6) was built at the end of the 13th century as a medieval royal residence. However, the castle has been rebuilt several times since then. The place was a prison in the years 1837-1972, and there is a museum about that time.
The city also houses the birthplace of the composer Jean Sibelius (Hallituskatu 11), which is now a museum. The city’s great son lived here from 1865 to 1885, when he moved to Helsinki.
Vyborg is one of the westernmost cities in Russia. The city’s history goes back to a Karelian settlement, while its official foundation was the construction of a castle here by the Swedes during a crusade in 1293. In the following decades, the castle was fought over between Sweden and Novgorod, and with the Treaty of Nöteborg in 1323, Vyborg and part of Karelia became Swedish.
At the Swedish castle, a trading post arose, which today is known as Old Vyborg. The castle in Vyborg became one of the most important in Sweden, and the city was an important stronghold against Russia in the east. From the end of the 15th century, fortifications were built around Vyborg, as it is also known from Visby on Gotland Island.
Tallinn is the capital of Estonia and a unique city in Europe with its preserved medieval center, where you will feel a century-old atmosphere among the many buildings built in not least the 1400s-1500s, where trade brought great wealth to the city.
The district behind Tallinn’s high medieval walls is a magnificent jumble of streets, alleys, passages and squares, where the distances are small and the experiences great. It is this part of Tallinn that most tourists come to see, but the areas around the medieval city also have a lot to offer with architecture from the recent centuries.
Rautatientori
city-center.fi
Mannerheimintie 20
cityforum.fi
Itäkeskus 5
itis.fi
Narinka
kamppi.fi
Pohjoisesplanadi 33
kampgalleria.fi
Aleksanterinkatu 52
stockmann.fi
Esplanadi, Kauppatori, Aleksanterinkatu, Bulevardi
Heureka
Tikkurila, Vantaa
heureka.fi
Helsinki Zoo
Korkeasaari
hel.fi/zoo
Linnanmäki/Borgbacken
Tivolikuja 1
linnanmaki.fi
Luonnontieteellinen Museo/Naturhistoriska Centralmuseet
Pohjoinen Rautatiekatu 13
fmnh.helsinki.fi
Sea Life Helsinki
Tivolitie 10
sealifehelsinki.fi
Tekniikan Museo/Tekniska Museet
Viikintie 1
tekniikanmuseo.fi
Tropicario
Sturenkatu 27
tropicario.com
Helsinki was founded as the sixth city in Finland in 1550 by the Swedish king Gustav Vasa. The city then bore its Swedish name Helsinki.
Gustav Vasa wanted to establish a competitor to the thriving trade city of the Hanseatic League, Tallinn, on the other side of the Gulf of Finland, and a royal trade was established in the city by royal decree.
Throughout the centuries after its founding, however, Helsinki has remained a withdrawn smaller fishing and trade city that could not take up competition with Tallinn. By 140, otherwise Helsinki had moved slightly to the south to a better location by the sea.
To the east of Helsinki and at the end of the Gulf of Finland, Peter the Great established in 1703 its new city and Russia’s new capital of St. Petersburg. The city was lavish, and as a Russian center of power, the strategic value of the Gulf of Finland increased significantly.
The Swedes built the fortress of Sveaborg at the entrance to Helsinki for advanced defense of the city. This happened in the 1740s, when Russia had invaded Helsinki only in the years 1713-1721 and again in 1742. Sveaborg was completed in 1772.
Sweden went to war with Russia due to Napoleon in 1808. In the same year, Sveaborg was conquered by the army of the tsar, and in 1809 Russia gained dominion over Finland and Åland at the Peace in Fredrikshamn, and made the area the Grand Duchy of Finland during the Russian Empire.
Until 1809, Turku had been the Swedish capital of the Swedes, but the czar in Saint Petersburg wanted a Finnish capital that was closer to the Russian government city. Helsinki was chosen due to Sveaborg’s fortress. Officially it became the capital of the Finns in 1812 and called Helsinki.
By 1808, a fire had destroyed large parts of Helsinki. The city was to be rebuilt, and as it was a new capital, it was an opportunity to have a magnificent city center built, which was just a capital worthy.
The German-born architect, Carl Ludwig Engel, together with the local Johan Albrecht Ehrenström was given the primary responsibility for the major task of Helsinki modernization. They planned and constructed the capital of the capital in a monumental empire style with inspiration from impressive St. Petersburg.
One of the highlights of the construction was the cathedral, completed in 1852. Around it lay central institutions such as the area’s government building and the university, which had been relocated to Helsinki from Turku after its great fire in 1827.
The time during Russia was a great period of growth for Helsinki, which had been expanded with large public facilities in the city center. The city also became a garrison city for the Russian Imperial Army, and as its capital, it was both a political, cultural and economic center in Finland.
Throughout the 19th century, Helsinki grew rapidly. Railway connections were established to Hämeenlinna in 1862 and to St. Petersburg in 1870. These and several transport facilities were essential to build the city’s central location as an economic and industrial power center.
At the same time as the economy, culture flourished and at the head of the Renaissance of the Finnish art world stood the world famous composer, Jean Sibelius. The 19th century was also the time for the creation of the first Finnish opera, which happened in 1852.
The growth created a good economic situation for the city, and this can be seen in, among other things, the beautiful national romantic buildings and art nouveau neighborhoods that emerged at the end of the century.
By the end of the 19th century, the city had grown to around 100,000 inhabitants, and Finnish was the dominant language. The many new inhabitants had moved to the capital from the country where the Finns lived, making the Swedish speakers a minority.
From the beginning of the 20th century, Finland had to be integrated into the Russian Empire to a greater extent than before. At the same time, however, there was a growing desire for Finnish independence in the population, and as a capital Helsinki was often the scene of events in this regard. In 1904, the Russian general governor was assassinated in the government building in the center of Helsinki, and it was a very clear example of increasing Finnish opposition to the authorities.
The Communist Revolution in Russia in 1917 enabled a Finnish Declaration of Independence, which the Finns took advantage of. However, the revolution in Russia also triggered similar struggles in Finland, so independence did not come from one day to another.
After a period of just over three months of civil war, during which the Finnish government had to flee from Helsinki to Vaasa for a few months, the city in 1918 became the capital of an independent Finland. This happened after the victory of the government army led by General Mannerheim and with the support of German soldiers.
Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, there was a positive development in Helsinki, which as an independent capital had a changed need for the establishment of national institutions. The period was characterized by the many new builds in the functionalist style, among other things, and the positive period was crowned by the large facilities for holding the Olympic Games in 1940; however, these were postponed due to the outbreak of World War II in 1939.
The population has also more than doubled since 1900 and has grown explosively since the beginning of the 19th century, when only a few thousand had their home in the Finnish capital.
In 1939, the growth period in Finland was replaced by war. In the German-Soviet agreement between Ribbentrop and Molotov, Finland belonged to the Soviet sphere of interest, and on November 30, 1939, the country was attacked by its neighbor to the east. It was the beginning of the Winter War and the bombing of Helsinki started a few hours later.
The winter war raged for 105 days and the end of it came with the Moscow Peace Treaty on March 12, 1940. With peace, Finland secured its independence, but had to give up more lands to the Soviet Union.
However, during World War II, Helsinki was subject to continued bombing, with the country choosing to fight on the German side against the Soviet Union. In 1942-1944, Finland made several advances into the Soviet Union, but was forced back and had to accept the ceasefire in Moscow on September 19, 1944. With the ceasefire, the war stopped and Finland had to surrender additional territory to the Soviet Union.
The pre-war growth quickly returned to Helsinki and Finland after the end of World War II. Between 1925 and 1960 the population again doubled, reaching about 425,000.
In the meantime, Helsinki should have hosted the Olympic Games in 1940. The big event was realized in the city in 1952 instead, and for a time Helsinki was the center of world sports. It was also at this time that the Finnish capital developed into a major international congress and conference city.
During the 1960s and 1980s many new suburbs were erected around Helsinki in connection with the move from country to city. Among other things, Alvar Aalto drew during this period and made a mark on part of the development.
One of the major projects of the time was the construction of the subway in Helsinki. It was opened as the world’s northernmost metro in 1982 and significantly improved the capital’s traffic system.
In recent years, Helsinki has hosted several major events. In the year 2000, the city was the European Capital of Culture, and in 2012 a number of events were held as the world’s design capital.
Helsinki, Finland[/caption]
Overview of Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital of Finland and is beautifully located with water to three sides and with an archipelago just outside the city center. The natural beauty is complemented by 19th-century Helsinki and modern Finnish architecture, and these things are part of what gives loads of interesting things to see and do while visiting the city.
The city’s two most famous churches are top sights; the Classicist Protestant Cathedral and the Russian Orthodox Uspensky Cathedral. The churches both date from Finland during the era of the Russian Empire, and the well planned 19th century town is located with the protestant cathedral as center point.
The short distances between the sights of the city center allow for nice walks among buildings from the 18th century to the present day. Churches, museums, recreation areas and modern designs are some of the things that you can see in the streets; all in a nice mix with the surrounding beauty in nature.
About the Whitehorse travel guide
Contents: Tours in the city + tours in the surrounding area
Published: Released soon
Author: Stig Albeck
Publisher: Vamados.com
Language: English
About the travel guide
The Whitehorse travel guide gives you an overview of the sights and activities of the Canadian city. Read about top sights and other sights, and get a tour guide with tour suggestions and detailed descriptions of all the city’s most important churches, monuments, mansions, museums, etc.
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In 1807, Finland became part of the Russian Empire, and to govern the country, a government chancellery was established two years later, which from 1816 became the Imperial Senate. The Senate building on the east side of Senattorvet was built to house the body, and the building was inaugurated in 1822.
The Senate acted as both government and court, which in today’s political landscape would constitute a combined Ministry of Finance and Justice. With Finland’s independence in 1917, the economic part was changed to a government council, while the rest was established as the country’s supreme court.
It was the German architect Carl Ludvig Engel who designed the neoclassical building, which was built 1818-1822. Engel’s task was partly the concrete building and partly to erect a stately center for the Finnish seat of administration under the new Russian rule.
On the west side of Senattorvet is the main building of the University of Helsinki, which was previously known by other names in history. Hot. The university building was completed in 1832 and, like the other neoclassical buildings on the square, was designed by Carl Ludvig Engel, who overall designed the new Finnish center around Senattorvet.
The educational traditions in the Finnish area stretch back to the 13th century, where Turku Cathedral School is believed to have been founded in 1276. The school trained boys for church work. When Queen Christina of Sweden founded Åbo’s Royal Academy in 1640, it was the third university in the Swedish Empire. The first two were the University of Uppsala and the Academia Gustaviana in Dorpat, now called Tartu in Estonia.
The Imperial Alexander University was established in Helsinki in 1828 as a replacement for the academy in Turku, which was not least due to destruction following a large fire in Turku the year before. Alexander University became an important place for the ideas of an independent Finland, and many leading personalities of 19th century Finland were educated there.
The first railway station in Helsinki was built in 1860, when the railway to Hämeenlinna was opened. Over the course of a few decades, the station became too small, and in 1904 a competition was announced for the construction of a new and much larger railway station. From 21 submitted proposals, Eliel Saarinen’s was chosen, and the new railway station was able to open in 1916.
The building is widely praised for its architectural features. The exterior of the station is pure national romanticism, inspired by both the Germanic architectural style and the monumental buildings from the Egypt of the pharaohs. The most striking parts are the bell tower and the large figures that stand on either side of the main entrance. The beautiful exteriors are matched by some impressive halls with fine architectural lines.
This mansion was built by the merchant Johan Henrik Heidenstrauch as a residence according to a design by Pehr Granstedt in the years 1816-1820. In 1837, the mansion was bought to be the residence of the Governor-General of Finland, but Tsar Nicholas I decided that the building should instead be the Tsar’s official residence in Helsinki, which was then part of the Russian Empire.
On that occasion, Carl Ludvig Engel and his son Carl Alexander Engel rebuilt the building in the years to 1845 to its current appearance, which was designed in a neoclassical style. Thereby the house came to be design-wise integrated into Engel’s newly created neoclassical center of Helsinki.
Nicholas I did not get to use the mansion himself, but it was continuously used by various members of the tsar’s family. Alexander II opened the Finnish Land Day in 1863 in the palace, and on that occasion a throne room was set up, and until 1906 it was the setting for the annual openings and closings of the Land Day. Nicholas II visited the house for a single day in 1915, and it was the last use of the beautiful mansion by the Tsar family.
For a few years during World War I, the building was used as a military hospital, but after Finland’s independence in 1921 it became the seat of the Finnish president, who now only uses it for representative purposes and lives elsewhere.
The city museum in Helsinki has several branches around the Finnish capital. This is the main building, and here you can see a nice review of Helsinki’s history. There are also quite a few different effects, which include household goods from the 1700s and 1900s.
Helsinki City Museum is housed in Sederholm House, which is the oldest preserved house in the city. It was built in 1756-1757 by the merchant Johan Sederholm, after whom it is named. Before then, the merchant Johan Julius Sund had built a wooden house in 1720 on his newly acquired piece of land, but this was demolished to make room for Sederholms Hus.
The museum building was owned by various merchant families until the 19th century, when it lived through being both a tobacco factory and a girls’ school. The museum was opened in 1995.
This is Helsinki’s city hall, which was built in 1833 as a hotel with the name Hotel Seurahuone/Hotell Societetshuset. The large hotel had a ballroom, banquet room and only 27 actual hotel rooms, which is why it was used in many contexts. For example, the first Finnish opera was performed here in 1852, and the Lumière brothers had the country’s first film showing on the site in 1896.
Carl Ludvig Engel, who designed the neoclassical building, which stylistically stands out as one of many contemporaries from his hand; Engel designed large parts of the center that arose after Finland’s integration into the Russian Empire at the beginning of the 1800s.
The city government bought the hotel in 1901, but the operation continued until 1913, when the interior as a town hall began. In 1965-1970, a major renovation was carried out, and now only the exterior of the building and the banquet room are original. The Helsinki City Council has its meeting hall in the beautiful building, and the city’s mayor’s office is also located here.
The Old Market Hall in Helsinki is one of three older market halls in the Finnish capital. It was built in 1889 according to drawings by the architect Gustaf Nyström. Today, it is still set up as a market hall with a lot of stalls and small eateries.
If you want to see another of the city’s old market halls, you can visit Hietalahden kauppahalli/Sandvikens Saluhall. The hall was already planned to be built in 1889, but the city’s economy at the time meant that construction was postponed, and Sandvikens Saluhall only opened in 1903. Today, gastronomy is at the fore in Sandvikens Saluhall, and the activities are supplemented by regular markets in the square in front of the hall.
Jätkäsaari is the name of the peninsula that, until 2008, was Helsinki’s then container port. The industrial port has today moved to Vuosaari, while the ferries to Estonian Tallinn continue to sail from the port of Länsisatarna in Jätkäsaari.
Since 2009, the area has been urban developed towards what, according to the city plans, will become a densely built-up urban area with homes, offices, recreational areas and so on. Thus, Jätkäsaari is an interesting place to experience modern architecture and urban planning.
A special attraction is the artwork Bad Bad Boy (Tyynenmerenkatu), which depicts a boy urinating. The work of the eight-metre-tall boy was created by Tommi Toija and can be seen today at the Bunkkeri/Bunkern tram stop.
The Mannerheim Museum is a museum dedicated to the Finnish statesman and military man Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, who lived right here in the beautiful mansion building in the years 1924-1951. The museum depicts Mannerheim’s history and thereby also a part of Finland’s recent history.
Mannerheim is one of Finland’s most important statesmen of all time. He came from a Finnish-Swedish noble family, had a military education in Saint Petersburg, served 30 years in the Russian army, led Finland through the civil war in 1918, was commander-in-chief during World War II and finally the country’s president in 1944-1946.
The Old Church is one of the oldest preserved churches in Helsinki. It was designed by Carl Ludvig Engel and inaugurated in 1826. The church was originally built as a temporary building, as the Ulrika Eleonora Church on Senatstorvet had been demolished to make room for the new Saint Nicholas Church.
With an intended role as a temporary church building, Gamla Kyrkan was built in wood, and no bells were installed in it. After the completion of Saint Nicholas Church, however, it was decided to preserve the wooden church, which is still standing. Part of the interior from the Ulrika Eleonora Church was once moved here, and you can still see, for example, the pulpit of the demolished church.
The altarpiece in Gamla Kyrkan was also intended for the city’s current cathedral, but Tsar Nicholas I did not think it was suitable for the church, and therefore he donated the one that was used instead.
Gamla Kyrkan is located in Gamla Kyrkoparken/Vanha Kirkkopuisto, which is also called Pestparken/ Ruttopuisto. This is because the site is a former cemetery where, among other things, victims of the ravages of the plague in 1710 were buried.
Kiasma is the name of the Finnish State Museum of Contemporary Art. The focus of the museum’s collection and exhibitions is international art from 1960 to the present day, and you can also experience the architecturally exciting museum building, which was built 1996-1998 according to the drawings of the American Steven Holl.
The museum is also located on the square Mannerheiminaukio, which is named after the military and statesman Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim. On the square in front of Kiasma you can see an equestrian statue from 1960 by Mannerheim.
Esplanade is a central park and a lovely breather in the middle of Helsinki. It is laid out as a wide boulevard between, among other things, the neoclassical buildings which replaced the former old wooden houses in the area.
In the center of the park you can see a statue of the Finnish national poet Johan Ludwig Runeberg. Around it and in the axis of the street Esplanade there are fine green spaces with flowers and trees, and there are often various activities in the area. In the summer season, the Esplanade is today a place where there is always a nice atmosphere and many Finns and tourists who enjoy the weather and the surroundings.
The park Esplanade was designed by Carl Ludvig Engel and opened in 1818 as part of Helsinki’s new urban plan, which was to establish Finland’s capital in a grand new perspective inspired by Saint Petersburg.
The Parliament of Finland was established in 1906 during the country’s time as an autonomous Grand Duchy under the Russian Empire with the Russian Czar as supreme authority.
Finland declared independence in 1917, which was accepted by the Soviet leader Lenin, and with the independence an actual parliament building had to be built in the Finnish capital.
An architectural competition was held for the purpose in 1924, and after the competition and five years of construction, the Rigsdagshuset could be inaugurated in 1931. The chosen building style was classicism with some inspiration from the modernism of the time, where the most striking detail is the monumental columns on the facade.
Inside, the building’s architect, who was Johan Sigfrid Sirén, designed, among other things, furniture and lighting, which varies from floor to floor. Thus, the Rigsdagshuset is a complex that must be seen as an architectural whole.
In 1961, the famous architect Alvar Aalto presented a city plan for the development of the Finnish capital around the Tölövigen wetland. The plan included several cultural buildings along the cove’s western shore, but only the Finlandia House was built.
Alvar Aalto designed and built the Finlandia House in the years 1967-1971 as a concert building, and then a congress wing was added 1973-1975. Alvar Aalto’s masterpiece was built with Italian Carrara marble on the facade; he thought it would bring Mediterranean architecture to Finland.
The Sibelius Monument is a work of art named after the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. It stands in the Sibelius Park, which was given this name on the composer’s 80th birthday in 1945.
The monument was created by the sculptor Eila Hiltunen, and it was inaugurated in 1967. It consists of more than 600 steel pipes, which were joined together like waves. The intention of the design was to recreate the atmosphere of Sibelius’ music.
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